Resources for Running Effective Meetings

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If you're an event planner, you know how to plan events. When you're planning an event, you leave no detail undefined. When you execute the event, you follow clearly-defined schedules and guidelines. But do you sometimes neglect those standards when running small meetings within the office?

I've thought about this before (mostly while my mind wandered in meetings that were poorly planned and executed), but was reminded of it during my read of Guy Kawasaki's Reality Check. In this 461-page book, Guy seems to cover just about every topic you might dream up, including five tips for running a good meeting (also available at his blog):

(1) Start on time even if everyone isn’t there because they will be next time; (2) Invite the fewest people possible to the meeting; (3) Set an agenda for exactly what’s going to happen at the meeting; (4) End on time so that everyone focuses on the pertinent issues; (5) Send an email to all participants that confirms decisions reviews action items.

You can find more tips on running effective meetings at 43 Folders and Mind Tools. If you have other meeting resources you rely on, please take a moment to share them in the comments.